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Draft Agenda, GPLAC County Council meeting, December 11, 2016

Green Party of Los Angeles County - County Council Meeting Agenda
Sunday, December 11, 2016
3:25pm: Join call to socialize, be ready to start on time
3:30pm - 6:30pm: Teleconference (phone number sent separately to County Council email list)

2. Opportunity to amend agenda and/or add emergency items (five minutes)
Presenter: Facilitators
• Relevant By-Law 9-5.5 Once distributed, the Agenda may not be changed until the meeting. The time and order of already agendized items may be amended by a 3/5 vote. New agenda items may be added by a 2/3 vote.

Note: all items below were submitted after the three week submission deadline and hence must all be added by a 2/3 vote.

This agenda item will brief the County Council on efforts to appeal the Planning Commission's approval and on the campaign to persuade the owner to sell the land so that it can be converted back into an urban farm and food hub.

Background: GPLAC Bylaws 5-2.10 Ballot Measures state that the County Council may "Endorse or oppose ballot measures appearing on the ballot in Los Angeles County” and Bylaw 9-4.2(h) states that votes that require 3/5 for approval including "endorsing or opposing ballot measures.

This agenda item gives the Green Party the opportunity to discuss and take positions on ballot measures on the March 2017 primary election ballot in the City of Los Angeles. It is also scheduled before the potential endorsement of a Green City Council candidate, so that attendees can hear from the candidate on those issues before considering endorsement.

Originally this agenda item was to consider GPLAC positions on both measures. But as of the printing of this agnda on December 8, the UCBA and the WFCW will be pulling their measure off the ballot, as part of their original intent in qualifying the measure was because the City of Los Angeles was not taking action, someone had to so something, with an impending 2018 deadline by the state of California requiring all local marijuana busineses to be liscened by localities.

Background: This will be the third meeting at which the GPLAC has discussed this ballot measure. Thus far Greens concerns have focused on concerns that (a) the parking minimums are too high are anti-smart growth, promote auto-dependency, undermine public transit and are bad for the environemnt; and that (b) this is a one size fits all policy for a large and geographically diverse city like Los Angeles, that grows out of local concerns in only limited parts of the city, and therefore is not really applicable citywide.

Background: This measure was placed on the ballot by the Los Angeles City Council. This is the first GPLAC discussion of this measure and most County Councilmembers have not had a chance to review it. It will be return to the January 29 meeting for a decision.

Background: GPLAC Bylaws 5-2.9(c) state that the County Council may "Endorse Green Party members who are candidates for public office and make a statement of support for candidates for public office who are not Green Party members". County party endorsement is also required under GPCA bylaws, to qualify to receive state party campaign fund support, and is a major consideration for GPUS campaign fund support.

GPLAC Rules and Procedures Article 7 state "Any endorsed candidate shall be expected to campaign in a manner that - accurately represents the decisions of the Green Party of Los Angeles County, the Green Party of California and the Green Party of the United States, including endorsement of other candidates; - generally supports the principles and policies of the Green Party of California platform and any additional issue and policy positions taken by the Green Party of Los Angeles; and where there is a disagreement between the positions of the endorsed candidate and those of the Green Party of California and/or the Green Party of Los Angeles County, be willing to state how this is so and why; - does not misrepresent the candidate's own record nor that of others and makes a good faith effort to be factually correct; - does not use prejudicial, biased, or offensive language, images or graphics with respect to race, gender, ethnicity, physical ability, spirituality, sexuality, or age; and - is in compliance with all applicable laws regarding being a candidate for public ofice

The City of Los Angeles will hold its Primary Nominating Election Tuesday, March 7, 2017, and its General Municipal Election Tuesday, May 16, 2017 http://clerk.lacity.org/Elections/index.htm. The following three Green Party members will be taking out nominating petitions for Los Angeles City Council once the filing period officially opens in early November, and have asked to be considered for GPLAC endorsement. The candidates have been sent the candidate questionnaire that the GPCA sends to candidates seeking GPCA financial support, to provide them basic questions to answer about their campaign http://www.cagreens.org/committees/campaign-support/questionnaire.

Background: GPLAC Bylaws 5-2.9(c) state that the County Council may "Endorse Green Party members who are candidates for public office and make a statement of support for candidates for public office who are not Green Party members". County party endorsement is also required under GPCA bylaws, to qualify to receive state party campaign fund support, and is a major consideration for GPUS campaign fund support.

GPLAC Rules and Procedures Article 7 state "Any endorsed candidate shall be expected to campaign in a manner that - accurately represents the decisions of the Green Party of Los Angeles County, the Green Party of California and the Green Party of the United States, including endorsement of other candidates; - generally supports the principles and policies of the Green Party of California platform and any additional issue and policy positions taken by the Green Party of Los Angeles; and where there is a disagreement between the positions of the endorsed candidate and those of the Green Party of California and/or the Green Party of Los Angeles County, be willing to state how this is so and why; - does not misrepresent the candidate's own record nor that of others and makes a good faith effort to be factually correct; - does not use prejudicial, biased, or offensive language, images or graphics with respect to race, gender, ethnicity, physical ability, spirituality, sexuality, or age; and - is in compliance with all applicable laws regarding being a candidate for public ofice

The state of California will hold a special primary election in late spring 2017, on a date to be set by the Governor, with a run-off between the top finishers of each party in the primary, if no candidates receives a majority of the vote The following Green Party member has declared his candidacy and will be taking out nominating petitions once the filing period officially opens in early November, and have asked to be considered for GPLAC endorsement. The candidate has been sent the candidate questionnaire that the GPCA sends to candidates seeking GPCA financial support, to provide them basic questions to answer about their campaign http://www.cagreens.org/committees/campaign-support/questionnaire, as well as the questionnare the the GPUS Coordinated Campaign Committee uses for its own candidate financial support decisions.

Kenneth is an accountant and auditor who was inspired by Bernie to get involved with politics, volunteering for him and running a registered write-in campaign for Congress last spring. He is 25 years old and a Filipino American who was raised by a single mother in Sylmar. After the repression at the DNC, Kenneth decided not only to campaign for Jill Stein, but to help us with organizing a new Central LA Greens group to continue our presence beyond the election. He has also organized volunteer events to help the homeless, supported events to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, participated in meetings and printed fliers for the Eastside Greens, and helped Angel Orellana gather signatures to run as a Green for LA City Council in the San Fernando Valley. Both Angelica Duenas and I know Kenneth well and can vouch for his commitment and temperment. He has excellent people skills and a passion to make a difference. His campaign provides the following benefits to us:

A. Gives Jill Stein supporters a reason to stay Green rather than rejoin the Dems.
B. Helps to revive a Central LA Greens group in the only district that Bernie won.
C. Gives the Eastside Greens group an opportunity to grow, especially in Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, and University Heights.
D. Provides us with an opportunity to organize a new Northeast LA Greens group in Highland Park, Glassell Park, Mt. Washington, and Eagle Rock.
E. Keeps the Cal State LA Greens and East LA College Greens a reason to stay active (ELAC is just outside the district).
F. Serves as a catalyst for launching a Green Party Asian/Pacific Islander (API) Caucus, given the presence of the following communities in this district: Koreatown, Chinatown, Historic Filipinotown, Little Tokyo, and Little Bangladesh.
(other neighborhoods in the district include Westlake/MacArthur Park, Pico-Union, Temple-Beaudry, Downtown, and parts of Echo Park)
G. Develops our local fundraising base.
H. Influences a runoff by hosting a debate to encourage the remaining candidates to embrace Green Party positions and campaign to Kenneth's voters if Kenneth does well without making the runoff.
I. Raises Kenneth's profile as someone who has a bright future for civic involvement, especially given his desire to run a positive campaign on the issues.

Proposal for endorsement: That the GPLAC endorse Kenneth Mejia, Congressional District 34

Background: Angelica Duenas (Los Angeles) and Kendra Gonzalez (Ventura) were both Stein campaign staff and will present on their organzing efforts and experiences in Los Angeles County and Southern California overall. They were scheduled to present at the GPLAC's November 13 meeting, but neither was able to attend.

Background: In late November, the Jill Stein campaign filed recount petitions for the presidential vote in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan www.jill2016.com/recount . State Green Parties in Massachusetts and Ohio http://ohiogreens.org/story/green-party-ohio-issues-statement-support-st... have endorsed the recount, but neither the Green Party of California (GPCA) nor the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) have taken a position ‘for’ or ‘against’ these recount efforts. However, the national and state Green Party has relevant platform positions about election integrity -

• Develop publicly-owned, open source voting equipment and deploy it across the nation to ensure high national standards, performance, transparency and accountability; use verifiable paper ballots; and institute mandatory automatic random precinct recounts to ensure a high level of accuracy in election results.

• Establish guarantees that every citizen's vote counts, and that all U.S. voting systems—including electronic ones—are verifiable, transparent and accurate.

Whereas the Green Party of the United States platform calls to "Develop publicly-owned, open source voting equipment and deploy it across the nation to ensure high national standards, performance, transparency and accountability; use verifiable paper ballots; and institute mandatory automatic random precinct recounts to ensure a high level of accuracy in election results" (http://www.gp.org/democracy_2016#Voting-Equipment-Ballots-Recounts): and

Whereas in the wake of widespread complaints about disqualification and obstruction of legitimate voters in the 2004 presidential campaign, it was the 2004 Green Party presidential campaign of David Cobb and Pat LaMarche that led investigations and demanded recounts in Ohio and New Mexico ; and

Whereas this 2004 Green Party candidate led effort led to uncovering evidence that led to the conviction of two Republican operatives in Cuyahoga County and to greater caution in many states regarding computer voting (including the decision in some states not to use Diebold machines in future elections); helped accelerate the growth of the "Election Integrity" movement (which is largely responsible for the halt of the proliferation of "Black Box Voting" Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) machines; and provoked a "top to bottom" review of the California voting systems by then-Secretary of State Debra Bowen, leading to DREs being outlawed in the state (http://www.jill2016.com/why_do_recounts_matter); and

Whereas soon after the November 2016 presidential election, several nationally renown election integrity activists and computer security experts raised substantial concerns about voting irregularities in the presidential resutls in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin; and

Whereas in reponse, on Novmeber 22 the 2016 Stein for President campaign began raising the substantial funds needed to file the recounts and pay the substantial filing fees, legal fees and recount observers costs (http://www.jill2016.com/why_does_it_cost_so_much); and

Wheras this effort has demonstrated broad grassroots support - with over 150,000 donors averaging less than $50 per donation; and

Whereas recount efforts have been filed in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin; and

Whereas the recount efforts have exposed widespread voting machine issues around accuracy and transparency in all three states, and even the lack of any paper ballots in large parts of Pennsylvania; and

Whereas the recount revealed a large number of machine-caused (de facto Jim Crow) undervotes in primarily African-American Detroit, that are several times margin of victory in the state; and

Whereas the recount is being virgorously opposed by local and state election officials, Republican Party officials and Trump related SuperPACs; and

Whereas efforts to shut down the vote remind of Florida 2000;

Whereas election integrity is a fundamental, good government and non-partisan issue; and

Whereas the recount efforts has elevated the ssue of election integrity, garnering substantial press coverage and popular debate; and

Wheres as recount 2016 is growing the election integrity movment, and connecting it to electoral reforms like ranked-choice voting, proportional representation and a national popular vote for president; and

Therefore the Green Party of Los Angeles County supports and endorses the 2016 recount efforts of tje 2016 Jjill Stein for President campain in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Background: This item will give attendees the opportunity to discuss the GPLAC's endorsement process of candidates and ballot measures, what is expected of endorsed candidates and how that relates to positions and endorsements made by active Green locals, including vis-a-vis Greens running in 2017 in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Lomitas and other cities http://www.lavote.net/Documents/Election_Info/scheduled_elections_2017.pdf .